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School for crime The most dangerous terrorists were trained and given shelter in Poland. It’s 1975. In Okecie International Airport (Warsaw) an Aeroflot liner touched down en route from Moscow to Berlin. Among the passengers there were three KGB agents and a mysterious gentleman looking like a Southerner. The gentleman wanted to stay in Warsaw where his lady friend lived. The Russians phoned the Polish Ministry of Interior asking to let the passenger stay a few days in the Polish capital. This information got into the hands of the Chief of Intelligence of the Polish Peoples Republic. There are two versions of what happened next. According to one, the tipsy passenger took out a gun, told the Russians to piss off, then calmly crossed through customs, took a taxi and went to Solec hotel. According to the other, the Poles persuaded the passenger not to stay in Warsaw because he might fall into the hands of the Mossad. This mysterious gentleman was Abu Nidal, one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world, responsible for over hundred terrorist acts.
The Polish – Palestinian Alliance According to US military intelligence, in mid 1970-ties Polish authorities concluded a veritable alliance with Al-Fatah, the Palestinian organisation responsible for many terrorist acts: ‘You will not explode bombs here and in exchange we will give you shelter, legal cover as students and provide you with scholarships’. Soon Poland received not only Arab terrorists Abu Nidal, Abu Duad or Monzer Al-Kassar but also Iljich Ramirez Sanchez (known as Carlos or the Jackal), the most dangerous terrorist in the world at that time, and members of the Red Army Fraction (RAF), with one of its founder members Gudrun Ensslin. Representatives of the Polish authorities maintained that no terrorists were trained in Poland, that there were only allowed to get medical treatment or to holiday. In the meantime they could participate in the training of military units in Zamosc, Deblin, Nowe Miasto by Pilica river, Minsk Mazowiecki and in the Intelligence School in Kiejkuty. Officially they were presented as military personnel from Libya, Syria or Iraq, trained in Poland on the basis of international agreements. In the Military Police College in Minsk Mazowiecki as early as the end of the 1960-ties Cubans were trained. Wishing to preserve good relations with Raul Castro, brother of Fidel, Poles agreed to help Cuba to organise their Military Police. ‘I took care of that group’, assured us General Czeslaw Kiszczak, ‘ they were the only group of foreigners trained in Minsk’. From further materials concerning introduction of Martial Law in Poland it transpires that in the Air Force Technical College in Zamosc Syrians were trained in air navigation; in 1981 over 100 Libyan pilots were trained in Deblin. How many of them were terrorists or trained terrorists? ‘There is nothing unusual about that’ says General Kiszczak says: ‘We were training them on the basis of international contract and made a lot of money out of it’. Supposedly there were similar arrangements in Nowe Miasto near Pilica river. Yet inhabitants of Nowe Miasto remember that in the 1980-ties Palestinians also used to train there. There are even some ‘souvenirs’ of their stay – they fathered several children with polish women. We managed to reach Ms Marzena T, mother of one of the children born at the time. She claimed that the child’s father used a false passport because when she tried subsequently to look for him in Syria she got a reply that no such person ever existed. General Kiszczak denies this, and claims that if it had been so he would have known. Palestinians came to Poland as early as late 1960-ties, after Poland broke diplomatic relations with Israel. Their presence is confirmed by documents in the Stasi and KGB archives. Officially they came as students (two PLO activists studied in the Agricultural Technical Academy of Olsztyn), diplomatic advisers or businessmen –mostly with passports issued by Tunisia or Syria. The largest group consisted of members of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. They lived in Poland with the consent of the Polish Ministry of Interior, using documents issued by that agency. Passes issued by the Polish Ministry gave them the possibility to act practically without limitations, said Mr Jerzy Dziewulski, Parliamentary deputy of SLD party, ex commander of the antiterrorist unit in Okecie International Airport.
Accomplices In the early 1980-ties the notorious terrorist Carlos organised an action against the Munich offices of Radio Free Europe. Could it be possible without the help of Polish secret services? Polish intelligence obtained information concerning security in Radio Free Europe building, ‘Thanks to these materials Carlos and his accomplices infiltrated the building and managed to detonate an explosive charge’, says Henryk Piecuch, author of a book in the series ‘Secret History of Poland’. Piecuch showed us documents from the First Department of the Ministry of Interior, prepared by Polish agents containing information on security arrangements in Radio Free Europe building. ‘When I was there we didn’t show any interest in the security of Radio Free Europe building. Of course, we tried to interfere with operations of Radio broadcasting station, we had our agents there but nothing else’, General Kiszczak tried to convince us. One of the documents in the possession of Piecuch is from November 1981, when Kiszczak was already the boss of the Ministry of Interior. Tahar Sharlik Mahdi – was the name used in Poland by one of the most dangerous Arab terrorists, Abu Daud, leader of Black September. During his stay in August 1981 he became a victim of an attempt on his life: he was sitting in the cafeteria of the Warsaw hotel Victoria. A man entered and shot him several times. Daud survived and was taken to the hospital of the Ministry of the Interior. Two weeks later he left the hospital and Poland. Syrian arms dealer Monzer Al-Kassar was very happy to be in Poland; he was known as the Prince of Marbella. He frequented the Victoria Hotel. He supplied several terrorist groups with Polish arms: RAK machine guns, grenades and ammunition for onboard weapons. Terrorists of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who captured the liner Achille Lauro, used Polish grenades of F-1 and RG 42 types. Polish RAK machine guns were used in a terrorist attack on Goldenberg’s restaurant in Paris. Abu Nidal’s terrorists shot dead nine persons who happened to be lunching in the restaurant. In the same year Al-Fatah terrorists used RAK gun to kill Mr Shlomo Argov, the Israeli Ambassador to Great Britain. Apart from Polish weapons Arab terrorists used some Polish diplomatic facilities for their activities. A particular role was played by the Polish Consul General in Milan in the 1970-ties, who purposely moved to the outskirts of the city. After 1989 the new boss of that facility found the safe where a broken key was stuck. Some time later specialists of the Polish Counterintelligence organisation UOP visited Italy, they managed to break in and took out a long metal box. It was full of a Czech made explosive Semtex.
Ministry of Interior and its wide shut eyes The terrorists were so happy in Poland that some of them almost settled in there for several years. Until mid 1980-ties Abu Nidal lived in Poland. He had a home in Warsaw where his wife and two children lived (they attended Polish schools). During these years he set up his financial base in Poland. ‘He opened an office in the Warsaw hotel Solec’ says Maciej Kuczynski, deputy director of the Border Protection, Migration and Immigration Department of the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Affairs. His career only ended when the Israeli intelligence started to follow him. He was forced to leave Poland after an attempt on his life organised in Victoria Hotel in Warsaw. International pressure was also strong. ‘In various parts of the world people suspected of terrorism were being arrested, and they may have had Polish stamps in their passports. ‘You cannot hide it’, says General Andrzej Kapkowski, ex chief of the UOP. As late as first half of the 1990-ties a cell of the Algerian opposition Armed Islamic Group (GIA) was active in Poland. The Islamic fundamentalists edited and printed an underground bulletin there, providing a Post Box address in Warsaw.
Stasi’s experimental field Often terrorists staying in Poland were aided by Stasi agents of the 22nd Department. East German services were interested in destabilising the political and economic situation in West Germany, this is why they used every opportunity, even outside their own territory, claims Jaroslaw Tomasiewicz, author of ‘Terrorism with a background of political violence’. But were the authorities of Polish Peoples Republic forced to agree to that? Did they have to agree to shelter in Poland the Red Army Fraction terrorists? It is made clear in Stasi documents that Gudrun Ensslin came to Poland at least on two occasions (staying several weeks), hiding from FRG intelligence agents. Ilse Stachowiak was hiding for about seven weeks in Szczecin and Miedzyzdroje. Why the Ministry of Interior made available their holiday resorts to Arab terrorist? Abu Nidal stayed in resorts like Tuszyn Forest, Uniescie, Waszeta and Dziwnow. In the late 1970-ties and early 1980-ties Abu Nidal was hiding among others in resorts of Zloty Potok and Polanczyk. Also Carlos recharged his batteries in the holiday resort of the Ministry of Interior in Swider.
War by proxy ‘Initially communists thought that the economic power of the West comes from benefits derived from the colonies. After WWII when colonies gained independence but the West was still strong, stopping further spread of revolution; they decided to harness terrorists for their struggles’ says Vladimir Bukovsky ‘Global terrorism was like war by proxy. Its aim was to weaken Western democracies. The Russians invested in terrorist organisations. But we have to remember that the terrorists themselves didn’t trust the Russia’, adds Dr Bartosz Bolechow of the Political Sciences Department of the University of Wroclaw. Was this why they felt more at home in Poland, Hungary or Bulgaria? ‘It cannot be excluded that people connected with terrorism still come to Poland. Events in New York demonstrated that they are able to conduct long term operations and to gain new people for their cause. But Poland probably is just a staging post for them’, says General Kapkowski Ryszard Kaminski |